Grove of the States, Baldock Rest Area, Wilsonville, OR
N 45° 16.480 W 122° 46.546
10T E 517588 N 5013487
This grove originally included the state tree from each of the 50 U.S. States and the US Territories.
Waymark Code: WMJD2B
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 11/01/2013
Views: 4
Grove of the States is an arboretum of the official state trees in the United States. They were planted in late 1967, and the collection included a tree from each of the 50 states plus the US territories. This collection and the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. are the only two known arboretums in the US that are known to have been planted with examples of the state tree from all 50 states. This grove was planted in response to Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson’s Highway Beautification Act of 1965 and was also dedicated to a national conference of state attorneys general that was held that summer in Portland.
Oregon Attorney General Robert Thornton, combined efforts the Oregon Association of Nurserymen to plant the grove in time for the conference. It was dedicated Aug. 28, 1967, and while Lady Bird Johnson was invited to attend the ceremony she was unable to attend.
“The idea came from Ladybird Johnson’s Highway Beautification Act,” Von Domitz said. “It was all about beautifying the highways, and that was part of the reason they did it. She accepted the invitation but had to cancel attendance, so she was involved with it, too, which was kind of neat.
Now, some 40 plus years later, the individual signs are in rough shape, and the trees have been stressed by being planted too close. Some trees died over the years and were not replaced. A new effort was launched in 2012 by Oregon Travel Experience, which receives funding from the Oregon Dept of Transportation, to improve the Baldock Rest Area and they intend to perform maintenance on the Grove and tout it as a tourism attraction.
Arboretum address:
Baldock Rest Area
Interstate 5, south
Wilsonville, OR United States
97070
Arboretum web site: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
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